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It was a quiet night in Castle Town.
All of the Darkners were turned in for the day. The ones who slept were curled up in their beds. The ones like Tenna who were mechanical in nature, such as Queen and her subjects, were in low-power mode, sitting and lounging in their private rooms, scrolling or reading or daydreaming to pass the time until tomorrow.
Though he didn’t need a bed, Tenna liked to get cozy. He had a whole selection of TV Time branded PJs to pick through. The ones he had on tonight were yellowish-cream in color, with a pattern of colorful film reel strips. A big guy needed a big bed. His took up almost half of his bedroom. It was red like his signature suit, and with a mattress so soft, he sank into it the second he laid down.
He laid with his hands folded over his stomach and with his nose pointed towards the ceiling.
A color changing logo bounced on his screen…up…hit the side…down…up again. He could sense when it hit a corner. He cheered softly.
“ Hooray …!” The tiny word wobbled before it vanished.
Then came a knock at the door. Tenna’s face blinked back onto the display as he sat up with a jolt. A rugged, raspy voice called out, “Um-um? Mr. Tenna? Are you up, boss?”
“What’s the word, Shadowguy? Did someone get into it with the watercooler again?”
“Er- no,” he said, “it’s ah…one of the Lightners is here, askin’ for you.”
Tenna pulled himself off the bed and landed on the floor with a quiet thump. He reached for the closet door to grab one of his suits. Couldn’t have his favorite contestants see him out of uniform, could he? It’d be downright unprofessional.
“Ah, really? Well, ain’t that just a splendid little surprise?”
“It’s Kris, Boss.”
Tenna froze. The wide, camera-trained smile on his screen remained static. “Kris?”
Maybe the suit could wait. The Shadowguy coughed. He sounded stiff. Worried. Was something wrong with Kris?
“Boss…they’re askin’ for you, specifically an’ like. And if ya don’t mind me saying so…they don’t look so good.”
Tenna had the door open before he’d even finished talking. The Shadowguy was a black blur as he yelped and hopped out of the way, just in time to avoid being hit as the door came flying open.
“Where are they?” Tenna said.
“R-right out in the studio, boss. No one else is up. I can keep a look out, though, if ya’d like?”
“That’d be grand , actually. You? You get a raise. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
Tenna moved through the spotlit halls of the studio like a television possessed. Like the TV in that scary ghost movie Kris used to watch with little December! Kris, oh, Kris Kris Kris. What was wrong? Kris was here all on their own, asking for Tenna specifically . A lifetime of late night cartoon marathons had taught Ant Tenna that when Kris Dreemurr wasn’t feeling good, their go-to source of comfort was him .
He’d been there for all of it. Fevers and nosebleeds and nightmares and all.
Kris had grown a bit since those days, sure. But no matter how big they got, they were still Kris , and if Kris needed him, then Tenna was there. He rounded the corner to the studio’s front lobby, and smiled as soon as he saw where the blue-tinged Lightner was sitting on one of their starry couches.
“Kris! Hey, kiddo, how’s it going?”
Tenna kneeled in front of them with a gloved hand draped over his knee.
“I heard you were askin’ around for me. I’m kind of embarrassed that you’re seeing me in my jams , but when I heard you were here, why, I just got so excited to see ya, I couldn’t even wait to get changed!” A muffled laugh track played as Tenna chuckled. He hushed it quickly, and softly, lowered his screen closer towards Kris’ face. “You doing alright, hon? Something bothering you…?”
Kris lifted their eyes and looked up at Tenna. Their long, cobalt hair, which normally fell over their eyes, parted, revealing a pair of tired, heavy-lidded, red pools. Tenna tightened every wire and circuit in his system to avoid whincing. He couldn’t let Kris see how worried he was. They…they were just so pale , was the thing. Their mouth was hung open as their chest heaved and fell with a thin, raspy gasp, like they were struggling to pull in enough air.
Kris lifted their arms, and reached towards him. Their fingers twitched.
“Hey,” said Tenna, “hey, I’ve got ya. Come here, sunshine.”
Tenna moved with the utmost gentleness as he picked Kris up. Carefully, he settled himself onto the floor. With his legs crisscrossed, he cradled the human against his chest, using his hands to shield them from the light as they nuzzled against the soft fabric of his PJs. Tenna felt a fan inside of him begin to whir.
They were just so damn small .
Why was Kris so cold ? Castle Town was a cozy little Dark World. Tenna could feel the child shivering against his palms, even through the gloves. The fan whirred faster, but he was a showman, an actor, so the panic didn’t seep into his voice.
“Did you have a nightmare, Kris? Are you sick? I-I wanna help, I do, but I don’t exactly know what’s the matter. Do you think you can tell me?”
“Hhh… hurts …”
Oh. Oh. Oh, Angel. Their voice .
“What hurts?” Tenna asked.
Kris leaned back and pointed towards their chest. Tenna figured there was some weird Dark World reason as to why, regardless of Kris coming here in their pajamas, they were still stuck in that metal suit. It sure as hell made it hard to figure out where the hurt was, though. Kris’ body shook with a rattle as a hoarse cough broke from their throat. They wheezed and curled back up into Tenna’s chest, still trembling.
“Your chest hurts?”
They shook their head.
“Okay…I’m gonna be honest, Kris, I’m a bit lost right now, but-”
Kris looked over their shoulder, and suddenly gasped. They gripped Tenna’s shirt and trembled like a leaf. Confused, Tenna looked up towards the door where they’d just glanced. What he saw made the smile vanish from his screen completely.
There was a heart in the doorway.
A floating red heart.
It bobbed in the air and just… stared at him. No. Not at Tenna.
It was looking at Kris.
Something deep and dark and primal inside of Tenna did not like that it was looking at Kris. Maybe he was just bad at sharing the spotlight. Perhaps it was a bad habit that he, admittedly, hadn’t worked as hard as he could’ve to kick. It had been ages since he got to spend time with Kris this way. Years . He had tried to make Kris smile with his show when they made the fountain in their living room, to no avail. At the time, he’d brushed it off as Kris being a moody teen, too cool and hip for Ol’ Tenna…but this thing …
…you made Kris forget how to smile. You broke my baby .
And now it was here . Making Kris afraid . Taking their attention off of him .
The heart started to drift closer. Tenna got to his feet and clutched Kris against his chest. He took a step back, the rage too much to even bother with having a face. The heart seemed to pause when his screen went black.
“Ten…na…h-hurts…”
“I know, hon, I know. I’m not gonna let it get ya. You’re okay.”
“C-can’t…can’t…soul…need it…can’t…”
Tenna snapped. A pistol popped into being. He snatched it and aimed it towards the…did Kris say it was a soul?
“Tenna…c…cold…”
They were so, so cold. The heart’s red glow…it stopped moving when he aimed the gun at it. Tenna took a step back and was prepared to bolt. He could get the whole studio up. This heart-soul, whatever it was, clearly couldn’t do all too much without Kris. That was probably why it seemed so eager to get its proverbial hands on them. It needed a body, didn’t it? And Kris, oh, his poor little Kris, they needed it, didn’t they?
Tenna was an old piece of work, but he had a good head on his shoulders. He could figure out some bullshit when he saw it.
( Thank you Queen for turning off that parental lock oh my fucking Angel this is so much easier without it )
“What the fuck are you?” Tenna put his finger on the trigger and jabbed the gun towards the heart. “And what do you want with Kris?”
He felt the heart’s gaze go between him, the child in his arms (the DYING DYING DYING child), and then towards the gun. It said nothing. Yet, Tenna understood what it was trying to tell him.
“If you destroy me, Kris will die. They need me. If you love them, you’ll let me in.”
Tenna’s hand trembled. He looked down at Kris. “Kris…Kris? Do you…?”
They were so pale. Almost gray. So cold. Like ice. Tenna felt sick .
“I…I’m keeping them here. You…I’m not letting you take them anywhere, you hear me? Kris stays with me until I figure this out. You keep them alive? Okay, fine. But you’re not dragging them around like some kind of puppet . I won’t let you hurt them anymore.”
The soul bobbed up and down. It nodded. It understood.
Tenna loosened his grip on Kris just enough to allow the little red heart to brush against their arm. The sight of the disembodied organ pressing itself into their chest, worming , burrowing , made his wires squirm. He’d fucked up. He should’ve run. Kris was going to hate him for this. That had to hurt. It hurt . He had messed it all up and ruined it and Kris would leave and no one would visit him ever again and-
The color returned to Kris’ face instantly. The heart faded into them, and brought with it a warmth that seeped through their frail form and into the fabric of Tenna’s glove. The human’s chest rose with a heavy breath that they let out as a soft sigh.
Kris smiled .
Kris smiled.
“...Kris?” Tenna went rigid as their eyes started to flutter shut. “Oh…oh… sleepy , huh? Oh…”
Tenna dropped the gun. It vanished into a puff of smoke before it hit the floor. He carefully checked Kris over, and felt a wave of begrudging relief flood through him when he felt a steady pulse against his finger. Kris grabbed the large digit and squeezed it. Their hand could barely wrap around his index halfway…Tenna melted.
Maybe Kris just needed a break from all the adventures. Maybe they needed some time with Ol’ Uncle Tenna. He was sure that if this heart-soul had any problem with that, he could manage it just fine. He had plenty of prize balls, after all. Maybe Susie would come by tomorrow…Kris seemed to like her…she was a good kid. Kind. Just the sort of friend Kris deserved after everything. Tenna would give Ralsei a call tomorrow and see if he could help with this s ituation he had on his hands.
For now…for now, though…he was just glad to have his sweet nibling all to himself. At least for the moment.
“Mike? Clear my schedule tomorrow. Let’s go lay down, yeah hon?”